It would be interesting to see people's most desired television set.This is a kind of "wish-list" if you like.

Top of my list is a GEC "Electra" 2002 DS-T 23.It was my parent's first TV set and was given to them in 1965 as a wedding present from my Grandad.The nearest I have ever got to one since is the below GEC brochure.

Pye V530, 17/19" set with FM radio - belonged to our neighbour and became our second set;

KB VV20 Vanguard - this was my parents' first TV.

If I was really, really fussy, a KB KV125 (I already have a cracking one thanks to The_Teleman) but with the later chassis where (a) the mains lead has harmonised colours and a blue sheath, (b) the system switch reads 625-405 and (c) the grille says ITT-KB on the front.

Most wanted? Probably the RGD actually. Fond memories of watching it with my great-Aunt Ciss

Cricky, I don't think Chris's forum's database could handle the size of my wishlist So it's very much a case of if something comes in then something else has to leave, which whittles the list down considerably to (roughly in order - but order changes !) :

For me I would love something, anything pre-war but that's highly unlikely with my budget allowance so with Mr sensible head on one of the sets at the top of my hit list would be a Pye V210.....Oops ! Looks like me and John are on a collision course

Hi everyoneThe set would dearly love to complete my 70's Philips collection is a G9 . They weren't made in great numbers like the G8 plus they were poor for reliability so many must have been scrapped.Maybe one day one will turn up .Regards.Gary.

marc wrote:(PyeV210)....Oops ! Looks like me and John are on a collision course

And may the best man win. Oh, wait a minute, that'd be me Seriously tho', as I dislike travel it'd probably need to turn up right on my doorstep, so you have a better chance.

I'm likely to clash with Chris - Murphy Acoustic Deluxe, I think they did B&W version, but I'd also consider a ... [Sits down, takes deep breath] c-c-c-olor one It may be outside my top 5, but its certainly in the top 5%.

What a great thread! Wouldn't it be nice if it turned out that one of us on here had a set that a fellow member was after and was able to help them out.

Sadly I'm unable to assist Andrew with his GEC Electra, although I briefly owned by 19" and 23" variants in the 1990s. Sadly long gone and I can't even remember who I passed them on to.

Likewise I had a 19" GEC 2028 as sought by Chris, but that went to my pal Mikey's colour collection more than ten years ago. I also had a blue 22" Murphy Acoustic Deluxe colour.

I'm lucky in that I've gradually re-acquired several sets that I owned and parted with as a youngster. And none of them are that common either, so no one is more surprised than me!

As to my wish list, well I've never in all my years of collecting found an example of a Decca dual standard b&w (DR1 series etc). I don't know why they are so rare. Also sending me weak at the knees are Baird and Defiant dual standard monos, GEC series 1 'Finelines' and back to Decca again for the MS2020 single standard 625 hybrid (the one with the much-smaller-than-expected pcb!)

Just take a look at the photo - only two people, out of all that lot, watching it - not one of Murphy's best advertising strategies....

Then OMG!!!! I might actually have that little Decca! - I definitely have a small Decca that looks very like it, and it was one of my aunts who owned it.. It has a lot of sentimental value to me, and it does actually work, after a fashion, but needs some work - not a lot - to bring it back to spec. It's worst problem is the deeply etched glass around the EHT cavity where there has been long term EHT leakage that has burnt "lightning strikes" into the flare of the CRT.. Unfortunately for the TV, it has been used in a damp environment (cold bedroom) for a good many years.

Chris, if it comes to it, I'll leave it to you in my will.. That way I'll know it's gone to a good home - but you may have to wait a while to get it.

Rather than drooling over something I might never find I thought I'd add a more positive slant The TV I always wanted I eventually found! It's the Decca Dual Unit, which apparently cost 350.00 in 1952! The electronics cabinet is not shown here but is very similar to the Decca 1000. In this case it is connected via a thick floor cable which feeds the mains and signal from the back of the screen cabinet which also contains speakers. I suppose you could call it a 50 inch if you measure diagonally. There's a plate on the rear of the cabinet which says "Decola" but I've not heard it called that before! Now restored and working too. Anyone else know of one?

If it has to be a TV I don't yet have then how about a Murphy V136 or V116. Mind you any of those larger style early/mid 60s B & W sets with the metal magazine rack/stand underneath would be nice, a Murphy one sold recently on Ebay for over 200.

What an interesting thread ! I must admit I seem to be fortunate to have acquired most sets on my wish listLike PYE 31f , PYE v210, PYE vt4 & my Gec 2001 There are 2 sets I would really go for now is a PYE ct71 a 19 inch dual standard colour set & a PYE V09 but the chances of getting any one of those is near on impossible

The_Teleman wrote:There are 2 sets I would really go for now is a PYE ct71 a 19 inch dual standard colour set & a PYE V09 but the chances of getting any one of those is near on impossible

Never say 'never' - a few years ago only a matter of weeks separated my saying to a friend "I think I've missed the boat on a pre-war TV now; I can't justify the expense" and getting one that fitted the 'dream' category at an astonishingly low price...

Yes some, I know three members here who have one each in their collections, there are likely more with people who do not frequent forums. Trouble now is last one I saw on e-bay about 3 years ago sold for £650. Early colour dual standards are stating to attain silly money putting them beyond most, even some single standard early 70's sets are now starting to fetch £200-300+ and in some cases as with the recent cvc2, £500+

A GEC 2028 was the first colour set to enter our family home, after I bought it for something very like £1.50 at Swaffham auction in, I'd guess, about 1974. Never really tried to get it working, not least because my parents didn't get a colour license until four years later when I was off at university. The 2028 went to Lincoln with me when I started my first proper job, but I sold it on, somewhere around 1985, to a collector/enthusiast there for, again, something very like £1.50, so just possibly it's still around.

What I'd really like for Christmas - will not impress anyone - would be a humble Bush TV75.. I grew up with ours, made in year I was born, and still working into my teens it became my bedroom set.. At work one day, my dad found the remains of another TV75 face down in the "Ash Wagon" at York Station and brought it home for use as spares - all it was missing was the lower part of the front Bakelite escutcheon (someone was desperate to pinch the speaker) which had been wrenched off the front of the cabinet.. That set never did work, but its IF chassis lived on for several years after mine lost its 'vision' output.

Our old "75" survived into the mid 80's, but was destroyed by my hooligan of a brother when he trashed my inherited shed full of granddad's tellies,parts and tools whilst I was at work one day.. I'd love to reacquire another one.